ICL Research Profile

Overview

The Carbon Ore, Rare Earth and Critical Minerals (CORE-CM) initiative for the U.S. Basins is funded by the Department of Energy Fossil Energy & Carbon Management Office of Resource Sustainability. Our project within this program focuses on applying HPC and AI to optimize processes to advance manufacturing of valuable coal-derived products in southern Appalachia.

REEs are essential in applied technologies that include communications, computing, medical capabilities, green energy, and defense. Our project in CORE-CM seeks to develop HPC/AI-driven optimized strategies to extract REEs from coal ash ponds. This benefits society by providing potential alternatives to increase internal production of REEs, while providing uses of the coal ash. The team includes participants from The University of Tennessee, Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, University of Alabama, Southern Company, Roane State Community College, Tennessee Geological Survey, and the Geological Survey of Alabama.